A New Test Apparatus for Evaluating Premium Screen Performance

Premium screen performances under particular reservoir are hardly available and required to be carefully evaluated via laboratory test instead of experience, and then a new test apparatus is developed. The apparatus installs full size screen sample and can evaluate performances of integrated screen pipe. A case study is performed to select the most appropriate premium screen from 4 different types for a target block, analysis results are compared with those of small disk samples, and show that: Performance of both multilayer dense weave screen and cemented corundum sand screen are acceptable, the former is the best if moderate sanding is allowed, while the latter is the best if sand production should be limited; pressure drop across inlaid weave block screen and nominal opening size of folded weave screen are too large and should not be applied; small disk sample test wrongly selected inlaid weave block screen as the proper type which is easy to be plugged in target formation, mainly because it can not reflect the fact that the total filtration area of this kind of integrated pipe is small and only equal to summated area of all the predrilled holes in base pipe wall.